War on Terror Volume 1
by Wonderverse
Summary: A series chronicling Diana's War on Terror missions.
1. Chapter 1

War on Terror

Volume 1

A Wonder Woman Series

Wonder Woman:

Helmand Province; Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

2003

It had pissed me off to no end that I hadn't been able to prevent nine eleven. I should have known better. The evil bastards had tried it in 93 as well. We didn't learn; I didn't learn. I could be critical of America; but America did more right than wrong in my view. It was most of the world that didn't get it; and the nation/world needed someone like me to stand between the wolves and sheep in order to make things right. I was working with the ISAF to take out terrorists in the southern Stan. This place was filled with opium poppy fields that jihadists were using to fund their terror operations. My mission on America's behalf was to turn this crap to ash - by any means necessary. With the Iraq invasion underway western forces would focus their attention more there. I wasn't for playing world policeman but we needed to fight the enemies of freedom wherever they thrived and festered. Jihadists were the cancer; I was the chemo.

I presently descended into a nighttime valley bordered by tall imposing mountains from all sides. The guys hated being surrounded by sights like this; for it always meant trouble. I didn't blame them one bit. If I were mortal I'd feel the same way. The jihadist enemy were masters of this environment. No outsider had ever truly conquered or otherwise seriously influenced the Afghans. That would likely always be that way. I admired the Afghans, although I did not like Islam at all; it was a totalitarian death cult in my view. But the equal truth was that the best way to reach the Afghans and truly liberate them was to do so through their tribal rather than their religious identity. Western commanders and politicians were still processing this and what it meant on a broader scale. But now with Iraq underway, which they'd assured me they had under control and didn't need my help for, most of the president's strategic focus would go to there from here. I had no doubt that Iraq had WMDs and were moving them about. Why wouldn't they? Their petty dictator was a mass murderer. That was no shock to anyone even remotely familiar to what was taking place there.

I detected movement ahead. I took cover behind a rock and waited things out a bit more. Several jihadi riflemen were on patrol. Where there were a few here there were likely many others. I waited until they drew closer before acting. When I did I moved at super speed. I pulled off my lasso and swung out with its limitless reach. It cracked quietly into the cool night air, blazing like a sun in rope form. The baddies saw it and they brought up their weapons but the lasso had become something of a whip as it sensed what I needed it to do. It cut through their necks in one ugly maneuver and removed their heads accordingly. It was a much deadlier use for the lasso that had many functions, but this was war and I had committed myself as WW to the west's continued defense. The baddies fell dead to the side. I pushed forward; but this time I dashed in at super speed to close the gap. I reached a small flowing river that went from east to west. South of the river was a massive set of opium poppy fields. Bingo.

I took a running leap and super jumped over the river. I landed in the middle of the poppies in a crouch. They were tall enough that they adequately concealed my presence from the enemy. I then spotted the lights further to the south. I focused onto them with super vision. My zooming in showed a small base present. This hadn't shown up on our scans of the area; but then again from this distance it appeared to be a collapsible structure. The poppies around me weren't quite ready to harvest but they were getting there. And there was plenty enough here if the enemy got them harvested they would be making mean dollars to continue their mayhem and evil. I had to wipe them out along with this field.

There were a few manned technicals present. I stayed low and circled the one technical. I then super leapt over and behind it; the darkness helped to keep me concealed from them. Landing behind them I took out the enemies at super speed. Stealth was maintained. I then super punched the driver hard enough to snap his spinal column. I returned to the big gun, readied it and opened fire on the next technical. They scrambled to fight back but my fire was superhuman accurate. I hit their engine block last and the vehicle exploded. I then pulled a pin from a dead baddie's frag near me and tossed it into the truck's bed. It was taken in explosive fire moments later.

Baddies emerged from their base to find out what the hell was going on. I surged in upon them and engaged them. I didn't attempt to use my bracelets or to draw fire. This was an empty handed action for me. I felt their bodies smash and break like twigs under my demigod blows. I wouldn't lie - it felt damned good to do. I wouldn't lie about another point either - Ares was always inside of me. I had his gifts too, as I had the entire Olympian pantheon. That part of me wasn't something I bragged about being the goddess of truth but I couldn't deny the power of War within my heart. As they fell to my superhuman assault their monetary key to regional victory was taken from them as easily as they took the lives of the innocent.

When they were down for good I stood before the poppy fields. I then said, "In the name of my almighty father Zeus I command his holy lightning forth to destroy this place of evil..."

It didn't take long. Thunder rumbled from out of nowhere; lightning dropped down from the heavens from multiple points. A massive burst struck the terror base structure and obliterated it. Then simultaneous forks of divine energy struck the poppy fields and lit them ablaze. Soon enough in the night it was all burning.

As Joker once famously said - "Everything burns." I couldn't have agreed more with that thought whatsoever. And my job here was only just beginning.


	2. Chapter 2

My job continued in Helmand without delay. The enemy wouldn't hesitate to rebound from the loss I had brought them. The poppies had been critical to their mission here; it had proven so even before the US invasion; it would be even more so now. Even before my raid on those fields I had been scouting the many goat trails and vehicle back roads in this region. The enemy traffic in these areas had been growing by the day; even more so in light of the western invasion of Iraq. They were taking advantage of the coalition's absence for now; but that would be their critical error. They didn't realize that I was here and operating to kick their asses.

It would take a sustained presence from a superhuman like myself to make this right. It only made sense in a place like this; in a place that had never been conquered in its long history. The problem in my view had always been Islam; if the Afghans simply followed their secular tribal codes it would make their lives that much better. Women and children would be treated better beyond doubt; and that was a large concern here for me to be sure.

I continued on foot through the northern provincial foothills. The southern areas were the richest for the poppy crops to flourish in. There were still plenty more of those to nail - and I intended to do just that - by conventional and magical means. The enemy patrols here would also increase due to my hit. Word would get around fast - that particular poppy field had been a solid contributor to terror funding.

I was preparing to enter another valley with those damned poppies when auto fire erupted. It was Kalashnikov...but it was also M4... There were Americans right here in the same AO...? Command hadn't made me aware of that. The fire intensified; and the enemy fire was greater. Shit. They needed help. I took to the air and flew like Superman for the trouble. It had sounded closer than it really was; it was at the far side of this poppy valley. It was now easy to zero in. Even from this distance I could see the four men (a standard fire team) firing hard with their M4s, but the enemy was closing in fast for them. There were technicals too. The guys kept moving and using whatever cover they could; this made it harder for the enemy to track them.

I dove in fast for the two technicals that neared the guys first. By the way the guys moved I guessed they were SEALs; it was the little things that gave it away. I pulled back my fist as I neared the engine block of that first technical and punched the hell out of it. I punched through it destroyed it and went on without delay for the next one. I drilled the second one in a similar blow and blew it to hell right after that. I flew up into the sky again to resume my offensive. The enemy was taken aback by this, but the seals got it; they knew it was me.

They went back on the offensive.


	3. Chapter 3

With the technicals taken out it was mostly down to foot soldiers for the jihadi now. The seals had found good enough cover from my taking out the technicals; this gave them the solid tactical edge they needed to take the fight back to the enemy. I stayed in the air to give them my version of air support. I flew in close to the enemy. They shot up at me; I returned it to them via bracelet and killed them with their own crap. One shot up a rocket. I caught it and threw it back at him and a cluster of his jihadi buddies and blew them to hell next. The few of the jihadi that were left realized now the folly of their ways and pulled back. I was tempted to kill off the rest of them but chose to check on the seals instead.

I found them alive and well; only one had a gunshot to the arm but it went through, and it hadn't struck any major arteries. They were relieved to see me. I helped with treating the wounded seal. "Sorry I hogged the action boys." They just laughed. "It's quite okay Wonder Woman. When we saw it was you we were just fine with that." I turned to the speaker. "You the fearless leader here?" "I am. Master Chief Patrick 'Mophead' Moore, at your service." I laughed at his alias and shook his hand. I could see the truth behind his alias; his hairdo looked like somebody had taken a mop and stuck it on his head. The rest of his teammates were equally as disheveled and Rambo looking.

They were some certified Orwellian rough men to be sure.

Intros were made. "We'd wondered if you'd get into this war or not," said Moore. I nodded slowly. "Yeah. I wasn't there to stop nine eleven though..." That quieted them. Moore shrugged. "None of us were WW. We can only do the best we can; even you." I smiled. "Thanks master chief; I appreciate that." "We'd heard you were hitting poppy fields; is that true?" "Yeah. Degrade and all that..." "Yeah. I see you read the manual." "Read?" countered team second Chief James Thane. "Damn, skip, she wrote the book on it." I frowned with Athenian insight as Thane spoke. "Chief - did your grandfather serve in WW2?" "Sure did ma'am. He was a UDT diver." "Lieutenant Commander Nathaniel Thane?" "Yeah. Did you serve with him?" I smiled and nodded. "I did indeed." "Grandpa never mentioned it, but then again he never talked much about the war. Dad never served so I think it created a disconnection. Grandpa died before I joined the navy. He might have told me that if he knew I'd joined." "Well," I said, "I do have ties to the afterlife; I'll pass the word." They laughed but were appreciative.

"We were just on a patrol here when we got ambushed. We were going to exfil, but now that you're here..." said Moore. I got what he was saying. "I can patrol with you master chief. York's wound isn't that bad. I can call in my wonder plane if we need to." Seal operator Tom York said, "Thank you ma'am but that won't be necessary." "Please guys - Diana will do just fine." They looked at each other for a moment as if to consider it and then said "No" together. I joined them on their patrol. Command was glad to hear that I was in the field with them. It was the least I could do for the brave.


	4. Chapter 4

We resumed our foot patrol. There was still plenty of intel to gather and crap to destroy. Now that I was with the seals they had greater freedom of movement and ability to operate. I could do watch anytime they wanted to rest. For now though these cowboys wanted to press on; I didn't blame them. We were in the very heart of enemy territory; often called the most dangerous province in the country.

There was also concern the IRGC was trying to meddle in the Sunni cultures of this portion of the nation. They'd also try to ally with the Sunnis despite their proven sectarian hatred without end. So far though the wackos we'd encountered were just the typical rural Taliban/jihadist types.

We patrolled north of the Helmand river at this point. We would continue following its northern bank as a guide as it ultimately flowed west into the Shia Islamic "republic". There were a string of settlements along this vital river that was essentially the Nile of this region. We would surveil these areas in detail to better tell command what we were up against.

It was 0210 local when we arrived at one such settlement. We went prone atop a semi arid hill and looked over the target. There were a few technicals, a fair number of riflemen and a Soviet missile launcher truck; the truck was armed and manned.

"Damn skip, this is meatier than we thought it would be," said Thane. Seals thrived on adversity as most Sof guys did. But even Moore couldn't help but nod agreement with his seal brother. He did glance at me. "But we do have an asset..." The guys looked at me. "Yeah; you do," I said in agreement. "We can call in air support...or I can go amazon on that missile truck and even the odds for all of us." We looked at Moore; it was Mophead's call. "Wonder woman, anything you can do..." "Consider it done master chief."

They would maintain over watch for now. I went to a crouch took in the overall sight one last time before sprinting off at super speed. I reached the missile truck and bashed away the sentries without stopping or really adjusting my activity. I then picked up the missile truck with ease and tossed it into where a cluster of the technicals were parked. They only saw their own vehicle of death about to fall upon them at the last moment. It crashed into them and lit up the sky for miles around in a massive explosion/fireball; a quake of sorts went with it.

They were stunned, and ticked. Their shock worked to my advantage. I ran at the rest of them. They came out of their various structures and fired at what they thought was me. I slowed to let some of the rounds reach me before bouncing them back to them. The seals all went sniper and fired on the peripheral crazies as they converged on the fireball. They rapidly thinned out the enemy on the flanks; this better helped me to deal with the enemy at my center.

I increased speed again as the brother seals did their bit. I super punched and kicked away loonies in the middle. It went smoothly with the seals' help. In moments the fighting elements were down and done. There were others but they surrendered and/or ran away. We let the latter go. The enemy was still all around us no matter what and I would journey with the seals at the very least for the near term future. There was still much to be done here.

My seal brethren came into the settlement and we secured it further. There could be solid material intel here that would help with the greater war effort. And of course they had a super interrogator with them for human intel gathering. We stayed vigilant and did what needed doing. And if the idiot squads back home thought they would label my seal brothers war criminals they would deal with me...and that would not bode well for the idiots...


	5. Chapter 5

This raided settlement by us was an intel goldmine. There were maps depicting supply routes throughout the entire province. This unnamed settlement was apparently a major relay point; for many of the supply routes went away from the Helmand river and thus away from freshwater sources. They would also blend in to avoid drone hits although that wouldn't become more commonplace until a few years later due to improved UAV missile tech development.

The biggest piece of material intel found so far was confirmed Iranian involvement in the Taliban's goals to retake Afghanistan and to form a shadow alliance against the "Zionist/Crusader alliance." This was proven with those supply route maps from the makeshift base found here; some came to/from Iran; directly. Now we had to determine if anyone in the village was an Iranian operative or had knowledge of such.

This was where my being a super interrogator would come into play. A settler named/aliased Nlash stood out the most to us; he was a confirmed mid level Taliban commander. He'd been in command of enemy operations here in the village at the time the raid had occurred. He'd been in what had served as a command post coordinating area enemy activity. He definitely knew more than he was saying. One didn't have to be an Olympian to notice that. Still, we needed more from him; especially the suspected Iranian intel he could provide.

"I'll say nothing to you infidel invaders!" he declared. He then looked at me and spat at my feet. "Least of all you infidel bitch!" I removed my lasso and grinned at him. "It's not me you should fear Nlash; it's this." I held up the lasso in my hands. It glowed bright at this; he grew fearful. "It senses your lies from here. Neither my American brethren nor I need to touch you. This will be nothing like water boarding or drugs. This will be like nothing you could ever imagine..." "Wait-!" I threw the lasso around him and wrapped him in its indestructible coils. Mophead stayed with me while the other seals stood guard. Enemy reinforcements could come due to the fallout of the raid but the nearest ones were still a good ways away. I also had my wonder plane's sensors sweeping the area constantly as was SOP for an op like this.

"Reveal your lies to us now," I commanded him. He shook his head rapidly and bore clenched teeth. He fought the lasso; as countless many others had before him; and all failed by either succumbing to its matchless Olympian power, or dying. Either way the truth would be known or the subject in its coils would pay the greatest price. This had always made me ask the timeless question - are your lies worth dying for...?

Nlash screamed as the lasso burned into his soul with proportional intensity to his lies/secrets. The villagers likely thought we were beating the crap out of him. Nope. This was the most civilized form of interrogation ever devised. And the vital irony was the subject controlled his/her own outcome to the lasso interrogation method. If they just fessed up the agony ended instantly. I was an administrator; nothing more. The lasso was in fact the real interrogator.

His screams became shrill as he resisted; almost to the point of dying; but then he gave in. The lasso stopped; he breathed heavily with head bowed. He then spilled the beans. He was indeed the Taliban link with the revolutionary guard. The Iranians were also operating here - and in far greater numbers than the west realized. Now broken, he wrote down everything he knew that could help.

"Damn wonder woman...they are all over here," said Mophead while looking over what Nlash had put down; he compared it to his mission maps. "This is solid...but we're grossly outnumbered for an op like this." "We can still do it though MC," I said. "The more we can do on our own the less boots we have to put down here; the less of ours that will get hurt." He thought it over then nodded/sighed. "I really can't argue against your centuries of combat experience." I put a hand on his shoulder/smiled. "You're the boss here; I'm just here to help. It's your call." "I trust your judgement WW; we'll play it your way." I nodded once. He looked at Nlash. "What about him?"

I took a few steps further away from the others; Mophead followed me. I looked down at the ground for what I had to say next. "Patrick - you can't commit 'war crimes' here; I can. What could you/your men do to stop me?" He nodded slowly. "You'll take the brunt to keep us off the legal hook?" "That's right." He sighed. "Okay." War crimes was oftentimes a joke; especially in wars like this. Any war I'd fought in I'd fought to win; nothing less. The only crime in war was not to win it.

I delayed no more; I went up to the spent Nlash made eye contact with him and then broke his neck. I then exited the enemy command post and pulled off my lasso. We had ten prisoners. They'd heard Nlash's neck snap. They were terrified. I threw out my lasso; it speedily wrapped itself around each of their necks; it magically burned their hands to touch it. I then gave my end of the lasso a super yank; their necks snapped together. The lasso recoiled just as easily as it had lashed out to dispense justice and was back on my hip again; it all happened very swiftly.

Everyone was surprised by the sudden actions to a varying degree; but the seals understood; and were quietly grateful. This made their jobs easier; as if they didn't have enough to deal with already. Every little bit helped.


End file.
